According to multiple media reports, the Calgary Flames have sent veteran defenceman Jay Bouwmeester to the St. Louis Blues. Coming back is a conditional first round draft pick, as well as prospects Mark Cundari and Reto Berra.

The Return

The conditional first round draft choice. As per James Mirtle, the first round pick will be a 2013 selection if St. Louis makes the playoffs this season, and a 2014 pick if the Blues fail to make the playoffs. Should the first round pick be deferred to 2014, Calgary will also receive the Blues' fourth-round selection in 2013.

Mark Cundari. The soon to be 23-year old Cundari was never drafted, but plays a well-rounded game - he has ability with the puck, doesn't back down physically, and is strong positionally. The problem is that he's undersized for the position, listed at 5'10", 210 pounds. He's a decent prospect, but hardly a blue-chipper. The good news is that he's good enough to play regularly in the AHL right now.

Reto Berra. A fourth-round draft pick in 2006. Berra is likely best-known in North America for his work representing Switzerland at the World Juniors (he also played at the 2012 World Championships). He's spent the last few seasons in the top Swiss league, posting mediocre numbers (he has a 0.906 save percentage this season). The good news is that he's interested in coming to North America; the bad news is that based on his work overseas he may not have much of an impact.

It's a very similar package to what the Flames received for Jarome Iginla: a first round draft pick and a pair of middling prospects that will fill depth roles but cannot be regarded as high-end acquisitions.

The Context

Bouwmeester led the Flames in ice-time this season, averaging 25:09 per game; he also led the Flames' blue line in quality of competition and the percentage of shifts started in the defensive zone. Elliotte Friedman tweets that the Blues will assume responsibility for the entirety of Bouwmeester's contract, saving the Flames $6.6 million dollars next season and slightly more ($6.68 million) in cap hit.

However, on the same day that Buffalo dealt Robyn Regehr - older, not signed for next season, and averaging almost 7:00 less per game - for a pair of second round draft picks, the return for a legitimate top-pairing NHL defenceman like Bouwmeester seems underwhelming. With the additional context of the Douglas Murray trade (again, for two second round picks) days earlier, that feeling is reinforced.

In the defence of Flames management, Bouwmeester's no-trade clause doubtless limited the number of teams they could negotiate with. Even so, this is clearly a trade that favours St. Louis - in a fight for their playoff lives, they managed to add a top-pairing defenceman for what is likely to be a middling first round pick and two guys they likely won't ever miss.

Jonathan Willis is a freelance writer.
He currently works for Oilers Nation, Sportsnet, the Edmonton Journal and Bleacher Report.
He's co-written three books and worked for myriad websites, including Grantland, ESPN, The Score, and Hockey Prospectus. He was previously the founder and managing editor of Copper & Blue.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I imagine the chances of that first rounder (J-Bo) working out better than either of the two second rounders (Regehr) are pretty good. Toss in a couple 'who knows' prospects and think we got a better return for J-Bo.

If Bouwmeester and Regehr (or Murray, for that matter) were identical players, the Flames absolutely came away with a steal here.

But they aren't. Bouwmeester is significantly better, and commanded only a marginally bigger return.

But this? Beyond pathetic. It seems obvious to me now that Feaster is trying to shortcut the process with older prospects who he thinks can step right in next season. Because he doesn't want an Oilers style rebuild.

The irony? These moves pretty much guarantee that we will be picking top 5 in the draft for years and rebuilding Oilers style.

What would Philly have paid at the draft for a quick turnaround?

And the apologists can shove it. Tired of their logic that states, "they got the best deal possible because that's the deal they made. No way could another GM have done better, Jay is obviously the standard, if there was better he'd have gotten it!"

Well, seeing what Regehr got today vs when we traded him blows that theory out of the water.

Feaster is a bumbling idiot and needs to be dismissed this summer. No more big name trades until a new GM is in place. Feaster can trade the Babchuks, but that's it.

Better quit laughing at the Oil folks, it's going to be 5 long years minimum, you know, of "wandering in the desert."

How come we can't get any really good prospects?!?!?! Seriously!!!!!! My goodness! Who the heck are these guys. Kipper is obviously being traded by CGY since we have MacDonald, Ramo, Brossoit, Tayllor, Ortio, and this new guy. Holy crap we better get something good from Kipper.

As of April 28th the current regime should be gutted. From the President on down to the coaching staff. If the Flames are making trades like this one Feaster and company surely have no clue to building a team. As well, the ownership appears that they are going on the cheap side of a roster. Maybe they want to recoup past financial losses. Can we say salary dump?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I imagine the chances of that first rounder (J-Bo) working out better than either of the two second rounders (Regehr) are pretty good. Toss in a couple 'who knows' prospects and think we got a better return for J-Bo.

I am once again underwhelmed Jay. At least we're getting picks. Hopefully we don't use them on guys playing midget AA in Quebec. He`d better draft well, because none of the guys he`s picked up are going to be players.

I'm speechless! WTF! A conditional freaking 1st. Part of the appeal of this 1st to St Louis is it may have been a potential lotto pick if they bubbled. I cant believe this. Maybe we'll get a 5th for Kipper & 3rd for GlenX. & while we're at it how about trading Sven so we can get our 2nd back. OMG! I wanna puke.

I've said it once and I'll say it again...quality over quantity. No more us trading one guy for 3+ assets/picks. Either trade straight up man for man, or holy hell maybe we can package a bunch of our crap for another teams decent asset.

It just feels like there's a lot of piling on happening right now. I hate to be the guy giving Feaster the benefit of the doubt, but I just can't see him being as inept as people are making him out to be. Maybe it's the market, maybe it's the NMC J-Bo had, maybe it's the salary that ST. Louis has to take on.. maybe it's a 100 other reasons that we aren't privy to. ... maybe I'm just tired of the whole world crapping on my team... sigh...

I understand the feeling.

The biggest thing for me is the stockpiling of mediocre prospects. The Iginla trade was difficult - they had a top prospect in Khokhlachev lined up and it didn't work out. But Bouwmeester's valuable (particularly given lousy UFA market for D this summer) and he couldn't do better than Berra/Cundari? I don't think that's a trade you can make without getting back a legitimate quality prospect, even if it means you pass on adding another guy to the deal.

I've said it once and I'll say it again...quality over quantity. No more us trading one guy for 3+ assets/picks. Either trade straight up man for man, or holy hell maybe we can package a bunch of our crap for another teams decent asset.

Frustrating...

That's the entire problem - no other GM wants to trade quality for quantity. Feaster might be killing the franchise by a thousand cuts.

As of April 28th the current regime should be gutted. From the President on down to the coaching staff. If the Flames are making trades like this one Feaster and company surely have no clue to building a team. As well, the ownership appears that they are going on the cheap side of a roster. Maybe they want to recoup past financial losses. Can we say salary dump?

"Mark Cundari could quite possibly be the best defensemen in the Blues' minor league system. Cundari had a stellar junior performance with the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL, and after he was signed as a free agent by the Blues, he was an instant success at the AHL level with the Rivermen in 2010-11. In 69 games played in his rookie season, Cundari had 10 goals and 30 points with a plus-6 rating."

Sounds ok to me, maybe even a tj Brodie who can hit!

5'9"...he'll fit in with our smurf village forwards.

Is it an improvement going from oldest team to smallest team? Maybe I skipped that class.

No one will ever convince me that two prospects you need hockeydb.com to identify and a conditional 1st was the best Feaster could do for a player like Bouwmeester. I don't understand how these guys still have jobs. A handicapped monkey on acid could do a better job than this. I would have been more content to see them take on some of Jay's salary and get back more legitimate prospects.

Feaster said that there was a lot of interest in Bouwmeester, but that the cap hit was to big, and some teams couldn't make it work. Why didn't he eat some of the contract?

Feaster either cannot read, or he chooses to just ignore the CBA. Proclaiming that the cap hit was "too harsh" for some teams just means he should've eaten some of it. Besides, it's only this season and next.

Eat even $2.8M of JBo's salary, make him a $4M D-man and he's all of a sudden palatable. But that didn't happen.

Hence, Feaster is illiterate, or just flat out doesn't bother reading the CBA (or doesn't care what it says). I mean, he IS the smartest person in the room at all points in time, right?

If Bouwmeester and Regehr (or Murray, for that matter) were identical players, the Flames absolutely came away with a steal here.

But they aren't. Bouwmeester is significantly better, and commanded only a marginally bigger return.

Unfortunately, both Regehr and Murray don't have 6.8 million dollar cap hits (Regher at 4 million next year, Murray 2.5 million dollars).

While I can appreciate people thinking these last two trades were "underwhelming" who did you think we would get?
Teams are not looking to overpay for players with large contracts who haven't played on a competitive team for the last three years (unless you think battling for the final playoff spot, only to come up short is competitive.

As was stated in a comment on an earlier article about the Iginla trade - 'teams do not value players based on the fuzzy feelings of a playoff run 9 years ago.' They also don't value players based on the fact that they played amazingly in Florida 4 years ago.
I understand Bouwmeester eats up minutes, and he's having a (relatively) good season. But he has still for all intents and purposes been a colossal bust for the Flames.

You can't call for a rebuild, and then whine and moan when it happens. I, for one am excited about what we're doing. Perhaps we aren't getting Tarasenko's or Matta's (the 'blue chip guys'). But were we really expecting that?

I've given the benefit of the doubt to Feaster before, I defended him in the ROR debacle and how a person with a law background could interpret the MOU with regards to RFA players coming from Europe to play here he might not have been subject to waivers. I even defended him on the Iginla trade, I expected it to be a low return.

However this is unexceptable, I don't care about the NTC or whatever. He had an assest that wanted to be moved, it shouldn't be hard to move him. It also shouldn't be hard to get a good return.

This is unexceptable, the return on bouwmeester is hot garbage unless STL is the lowest point team to get into the playoffs and is bounced first round. As of right now I am calling for the firing of Feaster after every decision he makes, his decision making is crap. The best feaster is going to be able to say is atleast the Heat might be good in a couple of years.

Well buddy, God help us. I think I will be walking Molly a little longer tonight. I'm just sick about this. I have no faith in Feaster anymore. This looks like a mad salary dump. I wonder if Edwards is so pissed that we had to move Iggy to a real contender, he's saying, why spend over the floor for this garbage. Cant blame him myself. I never thought this team would wander in the desert like they this one is about to. I hear Kipper is talking extension with the Leafs, maybe we can get an upgrade to a 5th rounder if that happens. God help us.

Lol, way to go feaster. Gave away our best d man for an ahl d, Henrie karlson type goalie and the 20 to 25 th draft pick. Really? I mean really? You incompetence has officially become comical. I'm interested to see what you hav given kipper away for.. Two ahl 3rd liners and a 5th? The heat will be a really good team I guess.

Everyone wanted first round draft picks when the talk on this forum was about trading the best players. Feaster did that. Plus two other assets. Again. Or he got two picks (1,4) plus two players. For J (4 goals/season in CGY) Bo.

What are you all belly aching about?

Regher, Murray 2 seconds. What should JBo net?

Did you really think JBo would net a top prospect plus a 1st? Or a top prospect alone?

Show me a trade where a top prospect was involved? Who were the principals?

Also this sets up for an oiler scenario. Get the 1 st overall ( or at least top 5) for a few years in a row. You all wanted a rebuild.

Just went on some St. Louis sites. They are shocked they got a first pairing def for a 20-25 draft a 5-6 def at best and a goalie who isn't expected to be able to play here. Especially with def at such a premium. I am shocked as well. This is beyond unbelievable.

Lol, way to go feaster. Gave away our best d man for an ahl d, Henrie karlson type goalie and the 20 to 25 th draft pick. Really? I mean really? You incompetence has officially become comical. I'm interested to see what you hav given kipper away for.. Two ahl 3rd liners and a 5th? The heat will be a really good team I guess.

At this point, with the way he's been playing, we might be lucky to get some magic beans for Kipper. He looks all used up this year.

I laugh and call everyone in management as&holes when we don't win the lotto pick. If JBo was an RFA then someone would send him an offer sheet so we should have got unconditional 1st and 3rd or prospect with an ounce of potential.

But this? Beyond pathetic. It seems obvious to me now that Feaster is trying to shortcut the process with older prospects who he thinks can step right in next season. Because he doesn't want an Oilers style rebuild.

The irony? These moves pretty much guarantee that we will be picking top 5 in the draft for years and rebuilding Oilers style.

What would Philly have paid at the draft for a quick turnaround?

And the apologists can shove it. Tired of their logic that states, "they got the best deal possible because that's the deal they made. No way could another GM have done better, Jay is obviously the standard, if there was better he'd have gotten it!"

Well, seeing what Regehr got today vs when we traded him blows that theory out of the water.

Feaster is a bumbling idiot and needs to be dismissed this summer. No more big name trades until a new GM is in place. Feaster can trade the Babchuks, but that's it.

Better quit laughing at the Oil folks, it's going to be 5 long years minimum, you know, of "wandering in the desert."

Very disappointed in this deal. A d-man who projects, at best, to be a third pairing. Another goalie "prospect" who is not even considered a prospect by Hockey Future. The real kick in the nuts has to be the conditional nature of the 1st round pick.

Feaster didn't need to trade Jay Bo. My question now is why trade just for the sake of making a trade?